Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-05-27
KING
Solomon 5 Mines.
BY n. RIDER HAGGARD.

BY d. HAooAnb'
All sorts OF reflections of this sort passed
through my mlnd-for, as get older, l regret
TO say detestable habit of thinking seems
to be getting hold of melville / stood and
stared al those grim yet fantastic lines of
warriors, sleeping, as the saying goes, up
on their spear"
Curtis" | said to Sir Henry, Il am in
condition of pitiabIe funk"
Sir Henry stroked his yellow beard and
laughed, as he answered:
"Pye heard you make that sort of remark
before, Quatermain.'
We'll mean it now Do you know,
very much doubt if one of US will be alive
tomorrow night. We shall be attacked in
overwhelming force, and it is exceedingly
doubtful if we can hold this place.
Wen give "A good account of some OF
them at any rate. Look here Quatermain,
the business is a nasty one, and one with
which, properly speaking, we ought not TO
be mixed up; but we are in for il, so we
must make the best Of it. Speaking person.
ally had rather be killed fighting than any
other way, and now that there seems little
chance OF my finding my poor brother, 1t
makes the idea easier to me. But fortune
iayOrs the brave, and We may succeed.
Anyway, the slaughter will be awful, and as
we have u reputation TO keep up, we shall
have to be in the thick of IT,"
Sir Henry made this last remark in
mOurnfui voice, but there was a CLEAN in his
eye which belied it, / have a sort Of an idea
that Sir Henry Curtis actually likes fighting.
After this we went and slept for couple
of hours.
Just about dawn we were awakened by
InfadOOs, who came to say that great actlYl-
ty was TO be observed in Loo, and that par
ties OF the kings skirmshers were driyinS-in
our yedettes.
We got up ana dressed ourselves for the
fray, each putting on our chain -armOr shirt
for which at the present junctule we felt
exceedingly thankful. Sir Henry went the
whole hog about the matter. and dressed
himself like a native warrior when you
are in Newfoundland do as the kukuanas
do" hc remarked, as lie drew the shining
steel over his broad shoulders. which 1t fitted
like glove. Nor did he stop there. At his
request lntadoos had provided him with a
complete set of war uniform. Round his
throat he fastened the leopard skin cloak OF
a commanding officer, on his brows he bound
the plume OF black ostrich feathers worn
only by generals Of high rank, and round his
tails 4 pair of sandals, a leglet OF goats
hair, heavy battle-ax with rhinOceros-
horn handle, round iron shield, covered
with white oX-hide, and the regulation mum
Der of tOllas, or throwing knives made up
his equipments 10 which, however, he adj
dcd his revolver. The dress was no doubt, 4
savage one but | am bound to say | never
saw a finer sight than Sir Henry Curtis pre-
scented In this guiSc. II showed off his mag
niticcnt physique 10 the greatest advantage,
and when lgnoSi arrived presently, arrayed
in similar costume, | thought to myself that
/ never before saw two such splendid men.
As 10. Good and myself, the chain aTmor
did not suit us nearly Sa well. To begin
with, Good insisted upon keeping on his
trousers, aud a stout, short gentleman with
an eyCglaSs, and One-half of his face shaved,
urraycd In mail shirt carefully tucked into
Il very scedy pair Of COrdurovS looks more
striking than imposing. As for myself, my
chain shirt being too big for me, / put it on
over all my clothes, which caused it to bulge
out in u somewhat ungainly fashion. dis.
cardrd my trousers, however, determined to
20 into battle with bare legs, in order to be
ths lighter in case it became necessary TO
retire quickly, retaining only my yeldt-
schOOus. This, spear, shield, which ]
did not know how to use, couple of tOllas,
a revolver and n huge plume, which |
pinned into the top of my shooting hat, in
order to give a bloodthirsty finish to my APP
pcamncc, completed my modest equipment
In addition to all these articles, of course we
had our rides, but as ammunition was scarce,
and they would be useless in case of n
charge, we had arranged to have them ear
ricd behind us by bearers. As soon as we
had equipped ourselves we hastily Swal
lowed some food, and then started out to see
how things were progressing. At one point
IN the table-land of the mountain there was
little koppic of brown stone, which served
for the double purpose of headquarters and
4 coming tower. Here we found Infadoos
surrounded by his own regiment. the Grays,
which was undoubtedly the finest in the Ku.
kuana army, and the same which we had
first seen at the outlying kraa This regi-
ment now three thousand live hundred
strong, was being held in reserve, and the
men were lying down ON the grass in com
pantes and watching the kings forces creep
out of Loo In long antelilse columns. There
seemed to be no end to those culumns-three
in all, aud each numbering at least eleven
or twelve thousand men
As soon as they were clear of the town
they formed up. Then one body marched
Ull 10 the right, one to the lett, ami the third
came slowly on toward lis.
All said lnladoos they are going to
attack MS ON three sides at once"
This was rather serious news, for as our
position on the top of the mountain, which
was ut least a mile and half in circumfer-
encc, was an extended one, ii was impor-
tant to us 10 concentrate our comparatively
Gmnll Infnpiipr "a No ,nGglhIn
But rs It was impossible for us to dictate in
what way we should be attacked We had to
make this best of 1t, and accordingly sent
orders tn the various regiments to prepare to
receive the separate 0nslaughts.